Category: Swatch

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Swatch Post: Layla Thermo Effect Polish N. 4

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Today’s post is a polish I am so excited about. As I’ve mentioned before, I absolutely LOVE thermal effect polishes, ever since my days working at Claire’s when they released their Mood Changing Polishes. So when I saw a post about the new Layla Thermo Effect Nail polishes by Sparkled Beauty (who is a local Halifax beauty blogger) I knew I had to track down these polishes at Lawtons. Two stores later, I found the display of these beauties. Sadly, there were only a couple colors left. =( I went with No. 4 which is described as a Dark to Light pink.

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When cold, the polish is a dark pink (almost light plum) color. It’s not a creme polish,  but rather scattered with an almost frosty shimmer. I was nervous at first when I saw this, as I know sometimes frosty polishes can leave brush strokes like crazy, but this one was pretty good at leveling out. I’m really digging the color of this polish while cool.

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The polish mid-change (pointer and middle finger) and cold (ring and pinky finger). A lot of the time my nails would resemble my pointer and middle fingers here. Lighter pink down towards the cuticle, to darker purple towards the end of the nail. It’s like having a gradient on your nails, without any of the work!

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And finally, the polish while hot (pointer and middle fingers). The change between the warm and cold is awesome! You can really see a difference between the two, which I like. The day I wore this polish it was raining, so every time I went outside and my nails were warm, I would have these cool drops of purple on my nails from where the cold rain had hit them. I like how easily this polish can change from temperature. (I wish I had gotten pictures!)

The application of this polish wasn’t too bad. The polish is sheer, but thick at the same time–it was actually kind of strange. It took three coats to reach full opacity, and took a bit of time to dry (even with Seche Vite as my top coat.) When dry though, it lasted well. I wore these through a full, busy, day of work and ended up with very minimal tip wear.

I’m quite impressed with Layla’s Thermal Effect Polish, and I’m thinking I will have to go back to Lawton’s and pick up some more colors (depending on what is left).

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Swatch Post: Quo by Orly Sailor’s Blue.

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It’s been a while since I shared a swatch of a polish with you, so I thought today would be a good day. Back at Christmas, the boyfriend bought me the QUO by ORLY 18 pack holiday collection of nail polish. It was actually a big surprised, because I think I had only mentioned to him once how much I wanted it, in passing, while we were at Shoppers. This polish–called Sailor’s Blue–comes from that holiday pack.

Sailor’s Blue is a thin sheer blue polish with a duocrome shimmer that flashes pink. The polish is thin–thin enough that I had to apply it over some dark undies (Maybelline Color Show in Sapphire Siren). Thankfully though, the pink shine scattered through out is not hidden–if anything it pops more! I wish that the weather had been more agreeable yesterday so I could have shown off the duocrome effect–it came through a little bit, but the sunshine wasn’t agreeing with me. Never the less, I managed to capture the pink a little bit (second photo down.)

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Now I haven’t seen Sailor’s Blue in the regular collection of Quo polishes at Shoppers, so I’m not sure if it’s still available. But if you have the chance to find this beauty,  I recommend it. It’s definitely the perfect color for fall. Deep, rich, and jewel toned.

 

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Also, I picked up some new polishes the other day (thank you, payday) so expect to see these new polishes in upcoming posts. Chatter’s had their China Glaze on sale Buy 2 get 1 free… how could I say no? Oh yeah… I couldn’t. Haha. =) So keep your eyes out for these beauties coming up. =)

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ACO by Ardene Sugar Rush.

First, I want to apologize for the lack of nail art lately. I’ve been a little busy at work with the Summer rush starting, so by the time I get home I’m exhausted and creating something complex is a little daunting. I’m going to try and get back into the swing of things though.

Today, I have another swatch for you.

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This is Sugar Rush by ACO by Ardene, a “sugar effect” nail polish that was released as part of their new collection of nail polish. When they were first released, I was super excited because I’m kind of in love with textured nail polish–I bought almost all the colors immediately. This was the last of the collection I needed to buy to complete my collection.

Sugar Rush is a cornflower blue polish, with tiny white matte micro glitters scattered through out. Unfortunately, of all the sugar effect polishes I have from Ardene (all four) this one dried the least textured. I ended up applying top coat over it (as you can see above) because it just looked uneven and bad when it dried. I’m not sure if it was the bottle I got, since all the other ACO sugar effect polishes have tried immaculately.

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My camera was not having photographing this polish, as you can see–it created almost a glow around the polish. Regardless of the fact it was being a pain, I love this color so much. And I have a cute summer dress that it would go with so perfectly.

I hope I’m not the only one who buys certain colors because of how well they match certain outfits?

ACO by Ardene polishes retail for $3.50 at stores–although they usually are on promotion for 3/$10. As you probably saw from my stash, I own a lot of their polishes (perk of working there haha.) If you have a chance to check their polishes out, you definitely should.

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Kozmic Colors and Margarita Madness.

I’m really excited about today’s swatch post and polish.

I posted before about how impressed I was with my first time trying the Kozmic Colors brand, especially for a polish found at a Dollar Store. I popped into a different Dollarama not too long ago, to see if they had anything new in the nail polish section and was very pleasantly surprised with what I found.

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This polish came in a four park of glitters. It was the only milky base color of the four–the rest of them are splatter and glitter toppers. But when I saw this polish in the group of four, I knew I needed to have them. The first thing I thought of when I saw this polish was Margaritas. These polishes don’t come with nails, but if I had to name it myself I would call it Margarita Madness.

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This polish is gorgeous. It is a milky green-blue base that is filled with large and small blue and green hexagon glitters. There are also tiny holographic glitters mixed into the base which unfortunately my camera flash could not capture. It took 3 coats to cover my nail, but it was well worth it. Honestly, I have nothing like this in my stash. It’s absolutely beautiful and eye catching.

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I tried to take a picture without flash to catch the holographic glitters, but they didn’t show up as much as I wish they would have. Regardless, I’ve fallen in love with this color. And now all I want to do is drink a margarita in the sunshine, and admire my nails. =)

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All about Neon.

So I have a swatch of a fun neon polish to share with you today from China Glaze’s 2012 Summer Neons collection.

What is it about Summer time and neon colors–I just can’t get enough! I was checking out the Chatters by my work recently, and they were had marked down all their clearance polishes to $4.99. Anyone knows me knows that I love a deal, so I ended up picking two polishes– China Glaze’s Pink Plumeria, and OPI’s I Snow You Love Me. The second I saw Pink Plumeria, I knew I had to put it on my nails as quickly as possible!

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As I’ve stated before, I’m a sucker for anything Coral so the second I saw this color I fell instantly in love. It’s a neon-ish Coral with a subtle golden shimmer scattered through out. It’s less pink than the picture above shows (thanks to my camera flash not capturing it properly) but on the nail it comes out a very vibrant coral. I’ve read that some people had problems with application, but I found the formula flawless–honestly it went on so smoothly I was shocked. It was a little sheer, so I did apply two coats with left me with very minimal visible nail line. I could have done three coats for full coverage, but it really wasn’t needed. I had no streaks, or patchiness at all. The polish does dry to a matte satin finish, so I added a coat of Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top coat to give it a glossy finish.

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I can’t not say enough how much I absolutely LOVE this polish. The subtle shimmer is beautiful, and the color is so perfect for Summer. The only issue I had was a tiny chip on my pinky finger this morning, but that could have been brought on by the house cleaning I did before starting my day. Regardless, I couldn’t stop staring at my nails all day. They even perfectly matched my dress that I wore on my coffee date with my best friend today. (Couldn’t have planned that better if I had tried!). Even he noticed how pretty and bright my nails were. =)

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I know this was a limited edition polish from two years ago, so I’m not sure how easy it would be to find now. But if you have a Chatters near you, I would recommend checking out the clearance sale they have on right now because you never know what lost goodies you might find!